


Ready or not

by irisdouglasiana



Category: Luke Cage (TV)
Genre: F/M, and mr. gangster consultant, i would happily watch the mariah dillard show, oh god what have I done, the ship i never saw coming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-29
Updated: 2016-10-29
Packaged: 2018-08-27 16:14:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8408200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/irisdouglasiana/pseuds/irisdouglasiana
Summary: With Shades, Mariah understands that everything is calculated and nothing is left to chance. He’s been testing her out these past few weeks; seeing to what extent she can be manipulated. He actually thinks he gets to determine the nature of this alliance. Cute.





	

The musicians finished packing up hours ago and the kitchen staff has cleared out, and that leaves Harlem’s Paradise empty except for Mariah. And _him_. They haven’t spoken much all evening; while the band played they sat next to each other in companionable silence and watched the floor to see who might show up (Detective Knight again, of course, along with a smattering of other feds; Mariah’s instructed the bouncers to increase the cover charge for the ones not on payroll), and she could almost shrug off what happened between them earlier. But now they’re the only ones left. Shades melts into the couch while she sits behind the desk and catches up on work.

As she types away on her laptop, she reflects on how it’s too bad that she’ll eventually have to kill him, but she knows if she doesn’t then he’ll almost certainly kill her first. One of the earliest lessons she learned in her political career was the importance of cultivating sustainable allies for long term success. This alliance—or whatever you want to call it—is not even remotely sustainable. But that’s fine for now.

With Shades, she understands that everything is calculated and nothing is left to chance. He’s been testing her out these past few weeks; seeing to what extent she can be manipulated. Helping her destroy the evidence of Cornell’s murder—a calculation. Giving her back the bottle—a calculation. The way he stood there like a stone when she kissed him—a calculation. All his different ways of telling her where they stand, whether he calls it a partnership or not. He actually thinks he gets to dictate the nature of this alliance. Cute.

But incorrect. Mariah can play this game too. So she spends the next couple hours focusing on the spreadsheets in front of her, moving around this or that column of numbers until they add up to her liking. Shifting $340,000 here, erasing $130,000 there. It turns out that even with super freaks to seriously screw up your insurance premiums, crime really does pay.

She doesn’t have to look up to know Shades is watching her. Sprawled on the couch, a nearly empty glass of whiskey dangling from his hand. Glasses on. Smiling. Even his movements are careful and deliberate. She thinks he must have learned control from a very early age; how to slip in and out of a room and be invisible until he chose to be otherwise. What would it take for him to abandon that control?

Mariah closes her laptop and stands up. “Good night,” she says, finally meeting his gaze. He’s taken off the glasses and he’s not smiling anymore, but she sees something else in his expression instead. She shrugs and turns to leave.

She doesn’t even make it to the doorway before she senses him behind her, silent as he is, and she quickly steps to the side. He blows right past her and then spins around, gripping her by the arm and pushing her back up to the window.

“I said good night,” Mariah says dryly.

He leans in and kisses her hard, just like she’s been waiting for him to do all evening, and maybe even before then, if she’s being honest. She takes him by his shoulders and pulls him in, tasting the alcohol on his lips. He releases her arm and grabs at the collar of her dress so roughly she thinks he might tear it.

“If you rip my Vera Wang, I’ll kill you,” she murmurs in his ear. She’s joking. Mostly.

“You wouldn’t,” he breathes, but he drops his hand to her thigh and starts pushing her skirt up instead. “You’d ruin the new floors. And I know how expensive it was to replace that window.”

He always has to push it, doesn’t he? Well, let him—she’ll push back harder. “You want to keep that hand?”

Shades smirks and removes his hand from her thigh. “You know what I want.” He suddenly picks her up and plops her down on top of the desk. She wraps her legs around him and grabs him by the back of his neck so she can kiss him again. He kisses her back, biting her lip the same way she bit his, and oh yes, she wants more of his scrawny ass, more of him, more of _everything_. She digs her nails into his skin hard enough to leave behind marks and runs her hand down his chest, tracing the buttons of his shirt, all the way down to his belt, and stops.

“Mariah,” he groans. She likes the sound of her name on his lips and how shallow his breathing has become.

“What are you waiting for, hm?”

That’s all she has to say before his hands are up her skirt again and he’s pulling down her panties. She’s already soaking wet and she breathes in sharply as he pushes his fingers inside of her. Her hands fly to his shirt as she impatiently undoes the buttons. “You can rip it if you want to,” he murmurs as he digs in deeper, and when she comes for the first time, she does. His shirt flutters to the floor and she drops her head onto his bare shoulder with a shudder—so she can get a better view as she unbuckles his belt and unzips his fly. It’s his turn to gasp when she grabs him. He’s so hard it must hurt a little, she thinks.

“Get inside me,” she whispers. Somehow she isn’t surprised when he pulls a condom out of his pocket, and it makes her laugh. “A little presumptuous, aren’t we?”

“Prepared,” he grins as he puts it on, pushes her skirt up to her waist, and grabs her by the hips. She cries out when he enters her and a small noise escapes him too. It feels so good, so _damn_ good, and she grinds up against him as he thrusts faster.

“Is that—all—you—got?” she pants, and it has the desired effect. She feels the pressure building up inside of her and when she orgasms a second time it’s his name she moans over and over again. And still he keeps going, so she matches his pace until both of them are dripping in sweat and she starts getting sore.

At last he begins to slow a little, so she says, “Fuck me like you mean it.” He looks at her and thrusts once more and comes without warning, gripping her hips hard enough to bruise, his entire body shaking. He leans up against her and she wraps her arms around him and holds him there for a long moment, until finally he pulls away.

He’s still a little unsteady on his feet as he picks his shirt off the floor and collapses on the couch. These young guys—so much energy, not so much stamina. Mariah tugs her dress back down but leaves her panties on the floor where they fell. She doesn’t have to see a mirror to know she looks like a complete wreck. She slumps down next to Shades and watches him from the corner of her eye.

She’s only ever seen him fully clothed and in a professional role, so to speak, so it startles her a bit to see all the tattoos on his arms and his chest. He’s got his head tilted back and his eyes closed, and for the first time she notices the thin dark bruise that goes all the way around his neck. It makes her irrationally angry. Who did that to him?

He opens his eyes and glances at her, still panting, and she wonders what she looks like through his eyes and how he was able to see the parts of her that she had carefully hidden for so long. Her life has been thoroughly turned upside down in the space of a few weeks. It should frighten her, but it doesn’t.

It exhilarates her instead. “Wanna go again?”

Shades swivels his head and stares at her incredulously, and for a moment she thinks he’ll refuse. But then he grins and says in a surprisingly good imitation of her, “You know I stay ready, baby. What about you?”

Of course she does. She reaches over and bites his lip as her answer, and smiles.

Someday the clock will run out on them. Maybe it will be the cops that bring them down, or Cage, or another enemy, or each other. Maybe it will all be over tomorrow, or next week, or in a few months.

But there are plenty of hours left before dawn. So at least for tonight, they can have it all.


End file.
